Imagi News: "Astro Boy" Won't Stray Far; Lands $40m in New Financing

Sci Fi Wire has comments from David Bowers, the writer for Imagi Animation Studios’ Astro Boy movie, stating that his adaptation won’t stray far from the source material, saying “It is the original characters, but we have new characters, and Astro’s basic journey is the same.” (via Comic Book Resources Comics Reel)

Elsewhere, Variety reports that Imagi Animation has brought in Mark Pawley as a major outside investor, selling new shares worth HK$311 million (just short of US$40 million at current exchange rates) that will give Pawley 18% of the company and the right to nominate two directors to the board. Imagi stated that the proceeds will be used for “the development of four full-length feature computer graphics imagery animation movies scheduled tentatively to be released from 2009 to 2011.”